Tower packing fabricating apparatus



NOV. 24, 1970 E v DETTMER E'I'AL 3,542,626

TOWER PACKING FABRICATING APPARATUS Filed April 6, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet IL INVENTORS. Eawarc/k Oeffmer BY Hr'fhur L. L eas/v er NCV. 24, 1970 v DETTMER ETAL TQWER PACKING FABRICATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet z Filed-April e, 196'? United States Patent 3,542,626 TOWER PACKING FABRICATING APPARATU Edward V. Dettmer, Bay City, and Arthur L. Leasher,

Freeland, Mich., assignors to The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 628,953 Int. Cl. B32b 31/20 U.S. Cl. 156-498 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus is described for assembling and fianging convoluted sheets into tower packing bundles employing opposed heated platens which engage a stacked bundle of sheets on opposite sides and simultaneously flange and fuse adjacent edges together.

This invention relates to improved apparatus for the fabrication of tower packing, and more particularly relates to apparatus which is compact and can rapidly assemble synthetic resinous tower packing.

oftentimes, in the treatment of waste water, it is desirable to pass the water over a generally vertically disposed support and permit it to come into contact with air. Oftentimes, it is desirable to utilize synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheets bonded together to form rigid bundles usually of a rectangular nature which can be readily installed with a gas liquid contact tower. Generally, such packing is prepared from a plurality of sheets or corrugated sheets or sheets having a variety of convolutions therein, the sheets secured in adjacent relationship in such a manner that water or liquid being treated is provided with a maximum surface. Conveniently, the number of such bundles or sheets are stacked within an enclosure to provide a suitable water treatment apparatus. It is extremel undesirable to ship such bundles in fabricated form as the volume per unit weight is very high. It is much more convenient to ship a plurality of sheets, to field assemble the bundles at the field site of construction and rapidly install the bundle within the tower or enclosure. Various means have been employed for sealing together bundles or sheets to provide a unitary structure. Some techniques have employed a plurality of corrugated strips which are passed between hot platens to seal and flange the edges. Heated probes have been passed through asembled bundles to fuse the individual sheets to adjacent sheets and provide a structural and functional unit. However, in order to provide a tower packing bundle of maximum strength and minimum Weight, it is desirable that the bundle be flanged and fused on four sides, that is, the edges of the sheets should be flanged and fused together.

It woul dbe desirable if there were available an improved apparatus for the preparation of bundles of synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheet.

It would also be advantageous if there were available an improved apparatus which would permit field fabrication of such tower packing bundles.

It would also be beneficial if there were available an improved apparatus which would permit rigid fabrication of tower packing bundles from a plurality of corrugated sheets.

These benefits and other advantages in accordance with the present invention are achieved in an apparatus for the fabrication of a plurality of tower packing bundles from a plurality of sheets having edges, the apparatus comprising in cooperative combination means to convey an unconnected plurality of synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheets in adjacent generally horizontal stacked configuration a predetermined distance, means to thereby form a bundle of unconnected sheets, the bundle having a first and second face and four sides, means to engage sides of ice the bundle and align the edges of the sheets forming the bundle, first and second opposed heating means, the heating means adapted to engage opposed sides of the bundles, heat the edges of the bundles to a thermoplastic state thereby fusing portions of adjacent edges of adjacent sheets together at selected locations and form a flange on the edge of the sheets, means to disengage the heating means from the bundle, means to cool the heated edge of the bundle, means to rotate the bundle about means to heat opposed edges of the bundle which are unsealed to a thermoplastic temperature and fuse adjacent edge portions of adjacent sheets together and form a flange, means to convey the so formed bundle from the bundle forming apparatus.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following specification when taken in connection with the drawing wherein:

In FIG. 1 there is a schematic cutaway view of the apparatus in accordance with the present invention for providing fabricated packing bundles to a tower.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of one of the two sealing units employed in the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fractional detailed view of a portion of the sealing unit of FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1 three is schematically depicted a cutaway view of the apparatus in accordance with the invention generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The apparatus 10 comprises in cooperative combination a means 11 to receive a plurality of stacked generally rectangular corrugated sheets in horizontal relationship and convey the sheets to a desired location. Adjacent the receiving and conveying means 11 is disposed a first sealing unit generally designated by the reference numeral 12. The first sealing unit 12 comprises a first heated platen 13 and a second heated platen 14 which are adapted to engage opposed edges of a bundle of plastic sheets not shown and flange the edges of the sheets and fuse adjacent sheet portions together. A ventiltaor 16 is provided in cooperative combination with the first sealing unit 12 to draw noxious fumes therefrom. A second sealing unit 17 is disposed generally adjacent the first sealing unit and remote from the means to receive the stacked sheets. The second sealing unit 17 has opposed heated platens 18 and 19 adapted to engage the sides of the bundles which are not sealed by the sealing unit 12. A ventilator or cooling means 20 is in cooperative combination with the second sealing unit 17. A conveying means 11 passes within the sealing units 12 and 17 and delivers a sealed, finished packing bundle 21 to a bundle support 22. A conveyor 24 adjacent the bundle support 22 conveys the finished bundles such as the bundle 21 into a tower 26. Beneficially, the apparatus 10 is supported upon and within a moveable vehicle 27 adapted to travel upon the roadways. A power and service control center 28 is positioned within the vehicle 27 and adopted to provide electrical and pneumatic power and control thereof to the various elements of the apparatus. Beneficially, the vehicle 27 is provided with a doorway 30 which is adapted to be sealed by a door 31. The door 31 is hinged at the bottom in such a manner that it swings outwardly to form a loading dock which rests on a support means 32.

In operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1, a plurality of synthetic resinous sheets are provided at the dock or doorway 31. The sheets are manually positioned in a desired configuration to the sheet receiving or conveying means 11. The bundle is conveyed into the sealing unit 12 wherein the hot platens 13 and 14 seal the edges. Conveying means subsequently carry the bundle to a location intermediate to the sealer 12 and the sealer 17 rotates the bundle about a vertical axis for about 90. The conveyor means then positions the bundle between the platens 18 and 19 of the sealer 17 and the remaining unsealed edges are sealed and flanged. The conveyor 11 then passes the bundle such as the bundle 21 to the bundle support 22. The conveyor 24 receives the bundle 21 from the support 22 conveying it to a location within the tower 26 where it is then manually positioned therein by a workman (not shown).

In FIG. 2 there is schematically illustrated a partially cutaway view of a sealing unit such as the units 12 and 17 of FIG. 1. The sealing uint is generally designated by the reference numeral 40. The unit comprises in cooperative combination a fixed frame 41. The frame 41 comprises a base portion 42, an upper portion 43 supported by spaced apart vertical elements 44, 45, 46 and 47. The frame 41 has a first or entrance end 48 and a second or exit end 49. The frame defines a generally centrally disposed passageway 51 extending from the first end 48 to the second end 49. A conveyor means 53 is disposed partially within the passageway 51 and comprises a fixed support means 55 rigidly afiixed to the base 42 adjacent the first end 48 of the frame 41. A conveying platform 56 is slidably supported upon the support 55 by means of rollers 58, 59 and two similar opposed rollers not shown. A pneumatic cylinder 60 having a linear actuating means or piston rod 61 is afiixed to the frame 41. The rod 61 is affixed to the conveying platform or support 56 at a location 63. The cylinder 60 and rod 61 provide a means of positioning the platform 56 internal or external to the passageway 51. Pivotally mounted shoes 68 and 69 are secured to the platform 56. The shoes 68 and 69 have counter weights 71 and 72 which, under the influence of gravity, maintain bundle engaging shoe faces 74 and 75 in a generally vertical position and permit pivoting of the faces 74 and 75 toward the passageway 51 when a force is applied to the shoes remote from the faces 74 and 75, thus permitting a bundle of stacked sheets resting on the upper surface of the conveying means 56 to pass over the shoes. A sheet stack engaging stop or shoe 78 is atfixed to the conveyor 56 remote from the frame 41 and is adapted to engage the edges of a plurality of sheets horizontally stacked on the adjacent surface of the conveyor toward the frame 41. Supported from the upper portion 43 of the frame 41 is a first heated platen 80. The platen 80 is supported by a lever system generaly designated by the reference numeral 81, the majority of which is not shown. The heated platen 80 has an operating or heating surface 82 which forms one side of the passageway 51. A second heated platen 84 is oppositely disposed from the first heating platen and is pivotally supported from the upper portion of the frame by means of a pair of generally parallel pivoting arms 86 and 87. The arms 86 and 87 have first ends 89 and 90, respectively, which are pivotally secured to the frame by means not shown. The arms 86 and 87 have second ends 92 and 93 which are pivotally connected to a plate frame 95. The platen frame 95 is rigidly secured to an operating arm 96. The arm 96 has a first end 97 and a second end 98. The first end 97 is rigidily secured to the frame 95 and the second end 98 is pivotally secured to a transversely extending operating rod 99. The operating rod 99 has a first end 100. The operating rod 99 has a second end 102 operatively connected to a first end 103 of a centrally pivoted lever 104. The lever 104 is supported on a rotatable shaft 106. A second end 107 of the lever 104 is operatively connected to a first end 102' of an operating rod 99' which actuates and positions the platen 80. A crank 110 is aflixed to the shaft 106 and is in operative connection with a linear actuating rod 111 which is an integral portion of a linear actuator or fluid operated cylinder 112 which is pivotally aflixed to the frame 41 by a pivot assembly 113. The linear actuator 112 operates in a direction generally normal to the shaft 106. A stack squaring assembly generally designated by the reference numeral 118 is disposed within the passageway 51. The stack squaring assembly comprises four vertically extending shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123. Each of the shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123 have an axis of rotation generally normal to the plane of the conveyor and the shafts 119 and 123 are disposed adjacent the first end 42 of the frame while the shafts 120 and 121 are disposed adjacent the second end of the frame. Each of the shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123 has affixed thereto a stack engaging member such as the stack engaging member 125 aflixed to the shaft 119 by the arms 126 and 127. The shaft 123 has a stack engaging means affixed to the arms 128 and 129 in a manner similar to the stack engaging means 125 aflixed to the shaft 119. The shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123 have in operative engagement therewith pulleys or sprockets 132, 133, 134 and 135, respectively. A first idller pulley 136 is disposed adjacent the pulley 132 and a second idler pulley 137 is disposed adjacent the pulley 134. A motion transmitting means such as a cable or chain passes from the periphery of the pulley 132 facing the center of the top portion 43 of the frame to the periphery of the pulley 133 remote from the center of the frame, about the idler pulley 137, about the periphery of the pulley 134 adjacent the center of the frame, about the periphery of the pulley 135 remote from the center of the frame, about the pulley 136 and returns to the pulley 132. A linear actuator 141 is pivotally affixed to the frame 41 at the point 142. The linear actuator is pivotally aflixed to a crank or arm 143 at a point 144. The arm 143 remote from the point 144 is rigidly affixed to the shaft 121.

Thus, as depicted in FIG. 2, extension of the linear actuator causes motion of the shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123 withdrawing the stack engaging assembly from the space or passageway 51. In the position illustrated in FIG. 2, the stack engaging members such as the member 125 engage a stacked bundle of sheets and force them into a vertical alignment. The platens 80 and 84 upon being positioned toward the central portion of the passageway 51 engage the remaining edges of the stacked bundle and force them into vertical alignment prior to heat fusion. A curtain 149 is disposed over the face 82 of the platen 80. Beneficially, the curtain 149 comprises a heat resistant synthetic resinous material having low adhesion properties. A similar curtain is disposed over the face of the work engaging portion of the platen 84 not shown. A curtain disengaging assembly 152 is disposed adjacent opposed ends of the frame 41. The curtain disengaging assembly comprises in cooperation a first shaft 153 disposed adjacent the upper end 43 of the frame 41 and extending from the first end 48 to the second end 49. A second shaft 154 is disposed in generally parallel relationship to the shaft 153. The shafts 153 and 154 are disposed generally adjacent the upper portions of the platens 80 and 84. The shaft 153 carries a pulley 155 disposed adjacent the first end of the frame and a second pulley 156 disposed adjacent the second end of the frame. In operative association with the pulley 155 is a pulley 158 disposed generally adjacent the member 42 of the frame. An endless chain or cable 159 passes over the pulleys 155 and 158. The chain 159 supports a bearing block 161. A pulley 163 is disposed adjacent the second end of the frame, and in cooperative combination with the pulley 156, supports a cable or chain 164 and a bearing block 165 in the manner of the cable 159 of the block 161. The shaft 153 supports a pulley 166 which is in operative engagement with a pulley 168 disposed on the shaft 154. The shaft 154 carries a pair of pulleys 169 and 170 generally corresponding to the pulleys 155 and 156. A pulley 172 is disposed adjacent the lower portion of the frame 41 and in cooperation with the pulley 170 supports an endless loop of chain or cable 173. The loop 173 carries a bearing block 175. A pulley 177 is disposed adjacent the second end of the frame and below the pulley 169. The pulleys 169 and .177 support an endless chain or cable 179. The cable 179 has aflixed thereto a bearing block 181. Thebearing blocks 181 and 175 are adapted to move in unison upwardly and downwardly along the face of the platen 80. Similarly, the bearing blocks 161 and 165 move upwardly and downwardly along'the face of the platen 84. A drive means 187 is provided to optionally locate the bearing bocks 161,165, 175 and 181. A vertical compression means generally designated by the reference numeral 190 is positioned generally centrally within the frame 41 at the upper portion thereof. The compression assembly comprises aframe 191. The frame member 191 supports a linear actuator 192. The linear actuator 192 has a movable rod or piston 193 which'terminates remote from the linear actuator 192 in a sheet engaging pad or holding means 196. Shown adjacent the sealing unit 40 in a skeleton view is a second sealing unit 198 which is substantially a duplicate of thesealing'unit 40. Disposed between the s'ealingunit 40' and the sealing unit 198 is a rotarytab le 199. The exposed surface of the table 199 is substantially coplanar, with a work surface 200 upon which a partially sealed'bundle'rests. The bundle on being indexed over the'rotary table 199 is raised thereby and rotated 90". Intermittent motion mechanism for accomplishing the raising and rotation of the turntable is omitted for the sake'of "clarityp In FIG. 3 there is illustrated a fractional detailed view of the sealing unit 40 depicting the arrangement of the curtain 149. The-curtain 149. has ,an upper end 202 and a lower end 203. The upper end 202 is resiliently secured to the frame 41 by a resilient curtain support 205 and the second end 203 secured totheframeby a resilient curtain support 206. A first curtain'roll 208 is in engagement with the face of the curtain 149 remote from the platen '80 and a second curtain roll 210 is in closely spaced: adjacent relationship to the roll 208and "dispose"d adjacent the face 82 of the platen 80. The axes of the first'andsecond roll lie in a plane generally parallel to the'p of the platen face 82. A, firstsroll 208-has a bearing means 211.

The roll 210 has a bearing means 212 ,adaptedto 'be rotatably supported within the bearing block 175. The opposite ends of the rolls 208 and 210 are similarly arranged to engage the bearing block 181. A similar curtain and rolls are disposed adjacent the platen 84 and engage the bearing blocks 161 and 165.

In operation of the apparatus as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, a stack of corrugated sheets is placed on the conveyor means 53 adjacent the shoe 78. The plane of the corrugated sheets is generally parallel to the upper surface of the conveyor means 53. The conveyor means 53 carries the stack of sheets into the space between the sealingplatens 80 and 84. The shafts 119, 120, 121 and 123 are rotated to bring the stack engaging members 125.

into engagement with the generally rectangular stacked bundle of sheets, align the edges of the sheets and form a substantially rectangular bundle. The sheets being formed into a rectangular bundle are then engaged by the sheet engaging pad or holding means 196 and pressed against the working surface of the conveyor means 53. The platens 80 and 84 are brought into engagement with the edges of the stack of sheets for a sufiicient'length of time to raise the edges of the thermoplastic shjeets to a fiowable temperature wherein immediately adja' cent portions are sealed'to each other and the edges of the sheets are flanged by the plastic deformation thereof. After the fusion is complete, the platens are retracted by. ,the appropriate mechanical linkages, and the curtain rolls 208 and 210 strip the heat resistant curtain from the ends of the fused bundle of generally parallel sheets. The stack engaging means 125 is withdrawn from contact with the sheet stack at any convenient time after the sheets have been aligned relative to one another and relative to the opposed faces of the platens 80 and 84. Beneficially, cooling air may be applied to the freshly sealed portions of the bundles in order to shorten the sealing cycle. After the sheet edges on opposed faces of the bundle are sealed, the bundle is engaged by the shoes 68 and 69, moved onto a rotary table 199 wherein it is rotated and passed into a second sealing unit such as the sealing unit 17 of FIG. 1. The second sealing unit, for practical purposes, may be identical to the sealing unit of FIGS. 2 and 3. However, the stack engaging means and the associated positioning components may conveniently be omitted as the sealing of the first edges provides fixed alignment of the bundle. However, oftentimes, it is desirable to retain the stack engaging elements in order to assure initial alignment of the unsealed edges of the bundles with the platen faces and not impress undue stress on the curtain such as the curtain 149. Control and activation of the apparatus depicted in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 may be accomplished in any desired manner from full manual operation to fully automatic operation. Generally, it is found particularly convenient to provide automatic sequential operation with manual override which permits ready compensation by an operator for variation in thickness and nature of the corrugated sheets being formed into bundles and ambient temperature variations.

A wide variety of shaped sheets of synthetic resinous thermoplastic material may be formed into coherent tower packing bundles. Some of the sheet configurations are depicted in U.S. Pats. 3,260,511; 3,232,865; 2,986,379; 2,977,103 and 2,793,017.

The embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 1

is particularly advantageous wherein the entire assembly 'isdisposed upon or within a wheeled vehicle which is readily transported to a construction site and bundles of packing are freshly fabricated from stacked sheets and As is apparent from the foregoing specification, the present invention is susceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modifications which may dilfer particularly from those that have been described in the preceding specification and description.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the fabrication of a plurality of tower packing bundles from a plurality of sheets having edges, the apparatus comprising in cooperative combination means to convey an unconnected plurality of synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheets in adjacent generally horizontal stacked configuration a predetermined distance,

means to thereby form a bundle of unconnected sheets,

the bundle having a first and second face and four sides,

means to engage sides of the bundle and align the edges of the sheets forming the bundle,

first and second opposed heating means, the heating means adapted to engage opposed sides of the bundles, heat the edges of the bundles to a thermoplastic state, thereby fusing portions of adjacent edges of adjacent sheets together at selected loactions, and form a flange on the edge of the sheets,

means to disengage the heating means from the bundle,

means to cool the heated edge of the bundle,

means to rotate the bundle about 90,

means to heat opposed edges of the bundle which are unsealed to a thermoplastic temperature and fuse adjacent edge portions of adjacent sheets together and form a flange,

means to convey the so-formed bundle from the bundle forming apparatus.

2. An apparatus for the fabrication of a plurality of tower packing bundles from a plurality of thermoplastic heat scalable sheets, the apparatus comprising in cooperative combination means to convey unconnected synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheets in adjacent generally parallel relationship a predetermined distance,

means to align adjacent edges of a stacked configuration of unconnected sheets, the configuration having first and second faces and four sides,

means to engage sides of the bundle and align the edges of the sheets,

a first pair of first and second opposed heating means, the first and second heating means adapted to engage opposed sides of the bundle and to thereby heat the edges of the bundle to a thermoplastic state and fuse adjacent portions of adjacent sheets together at selected locations and to form a flange on the opposed edges of the sheets,

means to disengage the first pair of first and second opposed heating means from the bundle,

means to cool the heated edge of the bundle,

means to convey the bundle from the first pair of opposed heating means,

means to rotate the bundle about 90, and

means to seal the remaining two sides of the bundle.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including a sealing enclosure operatively enclosing first and second sealing means.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 including a conveying means adapted to remove bundles from the enclosure.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the heating means comprise a generally planar platen.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a flexible non-adhering curtain is disposed adjacent the heating means and the curtain is adapted to engage the bundle side.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 including means to strip said curtain from a sealed bundle.

8. An apparatus for the fabrication of a plurality of tower packing bundles from a plurality of thermoplastic heat sealable sheets, the apparatus comprising in cooperative combination,

means to convey an unconnected plurality of synthetic resinous thermoplastic sheets in adjacent generally parallel relationship a predetermined distance,

means to align the adjacent edges of the stacked configuration of unconnected sheets, the configuration having a first and second face and four sides,

means to engage sides of the bundle and align the edges of the sheets,

first and second opposed heating means wherein the heating means comprises a generally planar platen having a flexible non-adhering curtain disposed adjacent to the platens, the curtain adapted to engage the bundle side,

at least the first heating means adapted to engage one side of the bundle to thereby heat the edges of the bundle to a thermoplastic state and fuse portions of adjacent edges of adjacent sheets together at selected locations and to form a flange on the edges of the sheets,

means to disengage the heating means from the bundle,

means to strip said curtain from a sealed bundle, the means to strip the curtain comprising at least a pair of adjacent rolls disposed on opposite sides of the curtain and adapted to traverse the length thereof,

means to cool the heated edge of the bundle, and

means to seal the sheet edges disposed on one remaining side together to form an integral tower packing bundle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 supported by and including a wheeled vehicle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,194 5/1954 Ehrenfried et al. l56-583 X FOREIGN PATENTS 114,269 11/1941 Australia.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 156-563, 583 

